The Turkish military has received orders "to act" in Syria if events in the war-torn country threaten Turkey's security, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has revealed.
Speculation has been mounting in the local Turkish press that the military are ready to intervene in Syria after the Kurds launched an offensive on Isis in the country's northern region of Raqqa, heightening fears in Ankara about the Kurds intentions. Fierce fighting between Syrian rebels and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in and around the city of Aleppo has also raised security concerns in Turkey.
Security sources told Reuters that Turkey has strengthened its border, sending equipment and troops, including a number of special forces, to its border with Syria.
"It's correct that we have taken precautions to protect our border. If there's any circumstance across the border that threatens Turkish security, orders to act have been given," Davutoğlu confirmed.
However, the PM has nixed talk of an imminent offensive in Syria, telling broadcaster Kanal 7 that "no one should have the expectation that Turkey will enter Syria tomorrow or in the near term".
"It's wrong to expect that Turkey would undertake such a unilateral intervention in the immediate term if there is no such risk," he added.
A senior Turkish official told Reuters that fighting between the regime and rebels in Aleppo was a threat to Turkey because of the crucial link from the embattled city to the Turkish border.
The official warned that Ankara would intervene if Kurdish YPG forces, who successfully defended the city of Kobane against an Isis offensive earlier this year, captured the Syrian town of Jarablus.
Turkey considers the Kurdish YPG fighters to be aligned to the PKK militant group, designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, which has led a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish government and killed over 40,000 people within the country.
Davutoğlu's AKP party, previously headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is opposed to the Assad regime, believing Damascus to be a key creator of instability in the region. Evidence has been published by Turkish journalists which alleges that Turkish intelligence has been shipping weapons across the shared border to Syrian rebels.
Last month, Can Dündar, editor-in-chief of Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, published a video online which purported to show trucks transporting arms operated by Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT). The footage shows police officers opening the contents of the trucks to reveal weapons and ammunition before they headed into Syria in January 2014.
In reaction to the footage, Erdoğan threatened Dündar, saying he would pay the "highest price" for publishing the incriminating video and filed a criminal complaint against the journalist which called for him to receive a life sentence.
Turkey has been routinely criticised by the international community for its failure to secure its border with Syria and prevent jihadists entering the country to join radical groups, or from travelling the other way to reach Europe.
Davutoğlu defended the government from the criticism in an interview with The Times earlier this year, asking: "We can close the border, but who will save the refugees, who will give them a safe haven?"
"All those people who are escaping by walking, should we close the border to them? Is that ethically acceptable?"
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